Method and system for watermarking 3D content

ABSTRACT

A video transmitter identifies regions in pictures in a compressed three-dimensional (3D) video comprising a base view video and an enhancement view video. The identified regions are not referenced by other pictures in the compressed 3D video. The identified regions are watermarked. Pictures such as a high layer picture in the base view video and the enhancement view video are identified for watermarking. The identified regions in the base view and/or enhancement view videos are watermarked and multiplexed into a transport stream for transmission. An intended video receiver extracts the base view video, the enhancement view video and corresponding watermark data from the received transport stream. The corresponding extracted watermark data are synchronized with the extracted base view video and the extracted enhancement view video, respectively, for watermark insertion. The resulting base view and enhancement view videos are decoded into a left view video and a right view video, respectively.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/560,578, filed Sep. 16, 2009, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention relate to video processing. Morespecifically, certain embodiments of the invention relate to a methodand system for watermarking 3D content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital video capabilities may be incorporated into a wide range ofdevices such as, for example, digital televisions, digital directbroadcast systems, digital recording devices, and the like. Digitalvideo devices may provide significant improvements over conventionalanalog video systems in processing and transmitting video sequences withincreased bandwidth efficiency.

Video content may be recorded in two-dimensional (2D) format or inthree-dimensional (3D) format. In various applications such as, forexample, the DVD movies and the digital TV, a 3D video is oftendesirable because it is often more realistic to viewers than the 2Dcounterpart. A 3D video comprises a left view video and a right viewvideo. A 3D video frame may be produced by combining left view videocomponents and right view video components, respectively.

Various video encoding standards, for example, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4,H.263, and H.264/AVC, have been established for encoding digital videosequences in a compressed manner. A frame in a compressed video may becoded in three possible modes: I-picture, P-picture, and B-picture.Compressed video frames may be divided into groups of pictures (GOPs).Each GOP comprises one I-picture, several P-pictures and/or severalB-pictures for transmission.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and/or method is provided for asymmetrical rate control for 3Dvideo compression, substantially as shown in and/or described inconnection with at least one of the figures, as set forth morecompletely in the claims.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention may beappreciated from a review of the following detailed description of thepresent invention, along with the accompanying figures in which likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary video coding system that isoperable to support 3D content watermarking, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary video reception unit thatis operable to watermark 3D content, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary independently decodable 3DAVC stream that is watermarked, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating exemplary a 3D layered video streamthat is watermarked, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that are utilized towatermark 3D content for transmission, in accordance with an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that are utilized towatermark received 3D content, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and/orsystem for watermarking 3D content. In various embodiments of theinvention, a video transmitter is operable to identify one or moreregions in one or more pictures in a compressed three-dimensional (3D)video with associated base view video and enhancement view video. Theidentified regions are not referenced by one or more other pictures inthe compressed 3D video. The video transmitter may be operable towatermark the identified regions for transmission. One or more picturesin the base view video and the enhancement view video may be identified,respectively, for watermarking. A picture with low correlation withother pictures in the compressed 3D video may be watermarked with ahigher priority such as a high coding layer picture. The videotransmitter may be operable to watermark the identified regions in eachof the identified one or more pictures in the base view video and/or theenhancement view video, respectively. The video transmitter may beoperable to multiplex the resulting watermarked base view andenhancement view videos into a transport stream for transmission to anintended video receiver. The base view video, the enhancement view videoand corresponding watermark data may be extracted from the receivedtransport stream. A base view watermark stream and an enhancement viewwatermark stream may be created, respectively, using the correspondingextracted watermark data, which may be synchronized with the extractedbase view video and the extracted enhancement view video, respectively.The intended video receiver may be operable to insert the synchronizedbase view watermark stream and the synchronized enhancement viewwatermark stream into the extracted base view video and the extractedenhancement view video, respectively. The resulting base view andenhancement view videos may be decoded into a left view video and aright view video, respectively.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary video coding system that isoperable to support 3D content watermarking, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a videotransmission unit (VTU) 110, a communication network 120 and a videoreception unit (VRU) 130.

The VTU 110 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/orcode that may be operable to provide compressed video content to the VRU130. The VTU 110 may be operable to acquire an uncompressed 3D sourcevideo, which comprise a left view video and a right view video. The VTU110 may be operable to compress the acquired 3D source video into twocoding view videos, namely, a base view video and an enhancement viewvideo using, for example, MPEG-4 Multi-view Video Coding (MVC) standard.Pictures in the base view video and the enhancement video may compriseI-pictures, P-pictures and/or B-pictures at different coding layers.Video content in both the base view video and the enhancement view videomay be copy-protected via video watermarking. In this regard, the VTU110 may be operable to watermark pictures in the base view video and theenhancement view video so as to prevent illegal duplication ofassociated video programs. Watermarks may be embedded into pictures inthe base view video and/or the enhancement view video. The VTU 110 maybe operable to determine regions for watermarking in the base view andthe enhancement view pictures, respectively. The VTU 110 may be operableto identify base view pictures with specific regions that are notreferenced by other pictures of the compressed 3D video. The specificregions in the identified base view pictures may be watermarked. Due tothe high correlation between the base view and the enhancement view, theVTU 110 may be operable to correlate the enhancement view pictures withthe corresponding watermarked base view pictures for watermarking. TheVTU 110 may be operable to identify correlated enhancement view pictureswith specific regions that are not referenced by other pictures of thecompressed 3D video. The VTU 110 may be operable to watermark thespecific regions in the identified enhancement view pictures. Theembedded watermarks may be carried with a specific picture identity(PID) and may be difficult to remove deliberately or accidentally. TheVTU 110 may be operable to multiplex the resulting watermarked base viewand enhancement view videos into a single transport stream fortransmission.

Although two coding views, namely, a base view and an enhancement vieware illustrated for the VTU 110 in FIG. 1 for a MVC 3D video, theinvention may not be so limited. Accordingly, identifying watermarkingregions in pictures that are not referenced by other pictures of the MVC3D video is applicable to a video system which uses MVC with more than 2coding views without departing from the spirit and scope of variousembodiments of the invention.

The communication network 120 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide platforms forcommunication between the VTU 110 and the VRU 130. The communicationnetwork 120 may be implemented as a wired or wireless communicationnetwork. The communication network 120 may be local area network, widearea network, the Internet, and the like.

The VRU 130 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/orcode that may be operable to receive a transport stream from the VTU 110over the communication network 120. The received transport stream maycomprise watermarked base view and enhancement view videos of acompressed 3D video. In this regard, the VRU 130 may be operable toextract the base view video and the enhancement view video from thereceived transport stream. The VRU 130 may be operable to extract orverify watermarks embedded in the received transport stream. The VRU 130may be operable to synchronize the extracted watermarks to splice pointsin the extracted base view video and/or the extracted enhancement viewvideo for watermarking. The extracted or verified watermarks may beinserted into pictures in the extracted base view and the enhancementview videos of the compressed 3D video. In this regard, the extractedwatermarks may be replaced by inserting a different watermark into thepictures in the extracted base view and the enhancement view videos ofthe compressed 3D video. The VRU 130 may be operable to decompress ordecode the watermarked base view pictures and/or the watermarkedenhancement view pictures into a left view video and a right view videofor a 3D display. Examples of the VRU 130 may comprise set-top boxes,personal computers, and the like.

In an exemplary operation, the VTU 110 may be operable to acquire anuncompressed 3D video comprising a left view video and a right viewvideo. The VTU 110 may be operable to use MPEG-4 MVC standard tocompress the acquired uncompressed 3D video into a base view video andan enhancement view video each comprising a plurality of compressedpictures. Pictures in the base view video and the enhancement view videomay be watermarked for copy-protection. Base view pictures with specificregions that are not referenced by other pictures in the extracted baseview and enhancement view videos may be identified for watermarking. TheVTU 110 may be operable to insert or embed watermarks into the specificregions of the identified base view pictures. Enhancement view picturesmay be correlated with the corresponding watermarked base view pictures.Correlated enhancement view pictures with specific regions that are notreferenced by other pictures in the extracted base view and enhancementview videos may be identified for watermarking. The VTU 110 may beoperable to insert or embed the watermarks into the specific regions ofthe identified enhancement view pictures. The watermarked base viewvideo and enhancement view video may be multiplexed into a singletransport stream for transmission. The transport stream may becommunicated with the VRU 130 via the communication network 120. The VRU130 may be operable to extract the base view video and the enhancementview video from the received transport stream for video decoding. TheVRU 130 may be operable to extract watermarks embedded in the receivedtransport stream. The extracted watermarks may be synchronized to splicepoints in the extracted base view video and/or the extracted enhancementview video for watermarking. The extracted watermarks or correspondingreplacements may be inserted into pictures in the extracted base viewand the enhancement view videos of the compressed 3D video. Thewatermarked base view pictures and/or the watermarked enhancement viewpictures may be decompressed or decoded into a left view video and aright view video for a 3D display.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary video reception unit thatis operable to watermark 3D content, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a video receptionunit (VRU) 200. The VRU 200 comprises a transport demultiplexer 202, awatermark extractor 203, a base view watermark insertion unit 204, anenhancement view watermark insertion unit 206, a base view decoder 208,an enhancement view decoder 210, a compositor 212 and a video displaydevice 214.

The transport demultiplexer 202 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to demultiplex or parse atransport stream received from the VTU 110, for example. The receivedtransport stream may comprise watermarked base view and enhancement viewvideos of a compressed 3D video. The transport demultiplexer 202 may beoperable to extract the base view video and the enhancement view videofrom the received transport stream. The transport demultiplexer 202 maybe operable to communicate the extracted base view and the enhancementview videos to the base view watermark insertion unit (BVWIU) 204 andthe enhancement view watermark insertion unit (EVWIU) 206, respectively,for watermarking. The transport demultiplexer 202 may also be operableto communicate with the watermark extractor 203 to extract and/or verifywatermarks embedded in the received transport stream.

The watermark extractor 203 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to extract watermarksembedded in the received transport stream. The extracted watermarks maybe communicated to the BVWIU 204 and the EVWIU 206 to watermark picturesin the base view video and the enhancement view video, respectively.

The BVWIU 204 and the EVWIU 206 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to perform watermarking incompressed video domain. The BVWIU 204 and the EVWIU 206 may be operableto insert or splice watermarks extracted by the watermark extractor 203into corresponding pictures in the extracted base view and enhancementview videos, respectively. In this regard, the BVWIU 204 may be operableto extract watermark data from the received transport stream to create abase view watermark stream. The created base view watermark stream maybe synchronized with the extracted base view video. The created baseview watermark stream may be inserted into the extracted base viewvideo. Both slice-based and/or frame-based watermarking may be supportedby the BVWIU 204. Information such as location information ofwatermarking regions in the watermarked base view pictures may becommunicated with the EVWIU 206 to be used for watermarking enhancementview pictures.

The EVWIU 206 may be operable to correlate enhancement view pictureswith the watermarked base view pictures. The EVWIU 206 may be operableto extract watermark data from the received transport stream to createan enhancement view watermark stream. The created enhancement viewwatermark stream may be synchronized with the extracted enhancement viewvideo. The created enhancement view watermark stream may be insertedinto the extracted enhancement view video. Both slice-based and/orframe-based watermarking may be supported by the EVWIU 206. Theresulting watermarked base view and enhancement view pictures may becommunicated with the base view decoder 208 and the enhancement viewdecoder 210, respectively, for video decoding.

The base view decoder 208 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to decode watermarked baseview pictures from the BVWIU 204 into, for example, pictures in a leftview video of the uncompressed 3D video. The base view decoder 208 maybe operable to utilize various video decompression algorithms such asspecified in MPEG-4, AVC, VC1, VP6 and/or other video formats to formdecompressed or decoded video contents in the left view video of theuncompressed 3D video. Information such as the scene information frombase view decoding may be communicated to the enhancement view decoder210 and utilized for enhancement view decoding.

The enhancement view decoder 210 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces and/or code that may be operable to decode watermarkedenhancement view pictures from the EVWIU 206 into, for example, picturesin a right view video of the uncompressed 3D video. The enhancement viewdecoder 210 may be operable to utilize various video decompressionalgorithms such as specified in MPEG-4, AVC, VC1, VP6 and/or other videoformats to form decompressed or decoded video contents in the right viewvideo of the 3D video. The resulting left view and right view videos maybe communicated with the compositor 212 to produce copy-protected 3Dpictures for display.

The compositor 212 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfacesand/or code that may be operable to combine watermarked pictures in theleft view and right view videos into 3D pictures for display. Thecompositor 212 may be operable to present the 3D pictures to a user viathe video display device 214.

The video display device 214 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,and/or code that may be operable to display 3D video pictures receivedfrom the compositor 212.

In operation, the transport demultiplexer 202 may be operable to receivea transport stream from the VTU 110, for example. The received transportstream comprises watermarked base view and enhancement view videos of acompressed 3D video. The base view video and the enhancement view videomay be extracted from the received transport stream. Watermark dataembedded in the received transport stream may be extracted via thewatermark extractor 203. The watermark extractor 203 may be operable tocreate a base view watermark stream and an enhancement view watermarkstream using the extracted watermark data to be synchronized with theextracted base view stream and the extracted enhancement view stream,respectively. The synchronized base view and enhancement view watermarkstreams may be inserted or spliced into the extracted base view videoand the extracted enhancement view video, respectively, via the BVWIU204 and the EVWIU 206. The base view decoder 208 and the enhancementview decoder 210 may be operable to decompress the resulting watermarkedbase view video and enhancement view video, respectively, into a leftview video and a right view video of an associated uncompressed 3Dvideo. The left view video and the right view video may be combined viathe compositor 212 to be displayed on the video display device 214.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary independently decodable 3DAVC stream that is watermarked, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a 3D AVC stream 300. The3D AVC stream 300 comprises a base view video 310 and an enhancementview video 320, which are generated or produced using MPEG-4 MVCstandard via the base view encoder 212 and the enhancement view encoder214, respectively. The base view video 310 comprises a plurality ofpictures, of which, pictures 312-318 are illustrated. The enhancementview video 320 comprises a plurality of pictures, of which, pictures322-328 are illustrated. Pictures in both base view video 310 and theenhancement view video 320 may be watermarked for copy-protection, forexample. In this regard, regions in a picture may be watermarked via theVTU 110 if the regions are not referenced by other pictures in the 3DAVC stream 300. For example, regions such as a region 312 a in the baseview picture 312 and a region 318 a in the base view picture 318 may beused as references to perform intra-view picture prediction on a region316 a in the base view picture 316. The region 312 a and the region 318a may not be watermarked. Regions such as a region 316 c in the baseview picture 316 may not used as a reference to other pictures in thesame vide video, however, the region 316 c in the base view picture 316may be used as a reference to perform inter-view picture prediction on aregion 326 b in the enhancement view picture 326. The region 316 c maynot be watermarked. Regions such as a region 316 a, a region 316 b, aregion 326 a and a region 326 b are not referenced by other pictures inthe 3D AVC stream 300, and may be watermarked.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating exemplary a 3D layered video streamthat is watermarked, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a 3D layered stream 400. The 3Dlayered stream 400 comprises coding layers 410-430, which correspond tothe base layer (layer 1), the middle layer (layer 2) and the high layer(layer 3), respectively, of the 3D layered stream 400. Two coding viewsare generated or produced in each coding layer. For example, a base viewvideo stream 410 a and an enhancement view video stream 410 b aregenerated in the coding layer 410. The 3D layered stream 400 comprises aplurality of layered pictures, of which pictures 411-418, 421-427, and431-438 are illustrated. Due to a high correlation between the base viewand enhancement view videos over the coding layers, pictures in anenhancement view video such as the enhancement view video stream 420 bmay be correlated to pictures in the base view video stream 420 a.Pictures in enhancement view are not referenced by other pictures in the3D layered stream 400 may be watermarked. For example, in theenhancement view, pictures such as the pictures 416-418 and 426-427 arereferenced to predict the pictures 435, 436 and 437, respectively. Thepictures 416-418 and 426-427 may not be watermarked. However, picturessuch as the picture 435, 436 and 437 in the enhancement view video 430may not be referenced by other pictures in the 3D layered stream 400 andmay be watermarked.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that are utilized towatermark 3D content for transmission, in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. Referring to FIG. 5, the exemplary steps start withstep 502, where the VTU 110 may be operable to identify base viewpictures such as the base view picture 316 with specific regions such asthe region 316 c that are not referenced by other pictures in either thebase view video and the enhancement view video of a compressed 3D video.In step 504, the VTU 110 may be operable to generating base viewwatermark data for the specific regions of the identified base viewpictures. In step 506, the VTU 110 may be operable to identifyenhancement view pictures such as the enhancement view picture 326 withspecific regions such as the region 326 c that are not referenced byother pictures in the enhancement view video of the compressed 3D video.In step 508, the VTU 110 may be operable to generating enhancement viewwatermark data for the specific regions of the identified enhancementview pictures. In step 508, the VTU 110 may be operable to transmit thegenerated base view watermark data and the generated enhancement viewwatermark data along with the base view video and the enhancement viewvideo, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that are utilized towatermark received 3D content, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. Referring to FIG. 5, the exemplary steps start with step 502,where the transport demultiplexer 202 of the video reception unit (VRU)200 may be operable to receive a watermarked 3D video. The receivedwatermarked 3D video may comprise a base view video, an enhancement viewvideo and corresponding watermark data. In step 504, the watermarkextractor 203 may be operable to extract base view watermark data andenhancement view watermark data, respectively, to create a base viewwatermark stream and an enhancement view watermark stream forwatermarking. In step 506, the watermark extractor 203 may be operableto extract the base view video and the enhancement view video from thereceived watermarked 3D video. In step 508, the watermark extractor 203may be operable to synchronize the created base view watermark streamand the created enhancement view watermark stream with the extractedbase view video stream and the extracted enhancement view video stream,respectively. In step 510, the synchronized base view watermark streamand the synchronized enhancement view watermark stream may be insertedinto the extracted base view video stream and the extracted enhancementview video stream, respectively.

Aspects of a method and system for watermarking 3D content are provided.In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the VTU 110 maybe operable to identifying one or more regions in one or more picturesin a compressed three-dimensional (3D) video. The compressed 3D videocomprises a base view video and an enhancement view video. Theidentified one or more regions such as the region 316 c and the region326 c are not referenced by one or more other pictures in the compressed3D video. The VTU 110 may be operable to watermark the identified one ormore regions. One or more pictures in the base view video and theenhancement view video may be identified, respectively, forwatermarking. A picture with low correlation with other pictures in thecompressed 3D video may be watermarked. For example, the identified oneor more pictures in the enhancement view video may be associated with ahighest coding layer.

The VTU 110 may be operable to watermark the identified one or moreregions in each of said identified one or more pictures in the base viewvideo and/or the enhancement view video, respectively. The VTU 110 maybe operable to multiplex the resulting watermarked base view andenhancement view videos into a transport stream for transmission. TheVRU 120 may be operable to extract the base view video, the enhancementview video and corresponding watermark data from the received transportstream. The watermark extractor 203 may be operable to create a baseview watermark stream and an enhancement view watermark stream,respectively, using the corresponding extracted watermark data. Thecreated base view watermark stream and the created enhancement viewwatermark stream may be synchronized with the extracted base view videoand the extracted enhancement view video, respectively. The BVWIU 204and the WVWIU 206 may be operable to insert the synchronized base viewwatermark stream and the synchronized enhancement view watermark streaminto the extracted base view video and the extracted enhancement viewvideo, respectively. The resulting base view and enhancement view videosmay be decoded into a left view video and a right view video via thebase view decoder 208 and the enhancement view decoder 210,respectively.

Another embodiment of the invention may provide a machine and/orcomputer readable storage and/or medium, having stored thereon, amachine code and/or a computer program having at least one code sectionexecutable by a machine and/or a computer, thereby causing the machineand/or computer to perform the steps as described herein for a methodand system for watermarking 3D content.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination thereof. The present invention may berealized in a centralized fashion in at least one computer system, or ina distributed fashion where different elements may be spread acrossseveral interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system orother apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described hereinmay be suited. A typical combination of hardware and software may be ageneral-purpose computer system with a computer program that, when beingloaded and executed, may control the computer system such that itcarries out the methods described herein. The present invention may berealized in hardware that comprises a portion of an integrated circuitthat also performs other functions.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A video reception device for watermarkingthree-dimensional (3D) content, comprising; a demultiplexer configuredto demultiplex a received transport stream, and to extract a base viewvideo and an enhancement view video from the received transport stream;a watermark extractor configured to extract watermarks embedded in thereceived transport stream; a base view watermark insertion unitconfigured to insert at least one of the extracted watermarks intocorresponding pictures in the extracted base view video to createwatermarked base view pictures; an enhancement view watermark insertionunit configured to insert at least one of the extracted watermarks intocorresponding pictures in the extracted enhancement view video to createwatermarked enhancement view pictures; a base view decoder configured todecode the watermarked base view pictures; an enhancement view decoderconfigured to decode the watermarked enhancement view pictures; and acompositor configured to combine the decoded watermarked base viewpictures and the decoded watermarked enhancement view pictures into 3Dpictures.
 2. The video reception device of claim 1, further comprising avideo display device configured to display the 3D pictures.
 3. The videoreception device of claim 1, wherein the base view and enhancement viewwatermark insertion units are further configured to extract watermarkdata from the received transport stream to create base view andenhancement view watermark streams, respectively.
 4. The video receptiondevice of claim 3, wherein the base view and enhancement View watermarkinsertion units are configured to synchronize and insert the createdbase view and enhancement view watermark streams into the extractedenhancement view video.
 5. The video reception device of claim 1,wherein the decoded watermarked base view pictures include pictures in aleft view video of the 3D content, and wherein the decoded watermarkedenhancement view pictures include pictures in a right view video of the3D content.
 6. The video reception device of claim 1, wherein the baseview decoder and the enhancement view decoder are configured to decodethe watermarked base view pictures and watermarked enhancement viewpictures using at least one of an MPEG-4 algorithm, an Advanced VideoCompression (AVC) algorithm, a Video Codec 1 (VC1) algorithm, and a VP6algorithm.
 7. The video reception device of claim 1, wherein the baseview decoder is further configured to communicate information to theenhancement view decoder to be used in decoding the watermarkedenhancement view pictures.
 8. A method for watermarkingthree-dimensional (3D) content for transmission, comprising: acquiring a3D video having a base view video and an enhancement view video;identifying a region in a picture of the base view video and in apicture of the enhancement view video, wherein the base view pictureregion and the enhancement view picture region are unreferenced by otherpictures in the 3D video; watermarking the identified regions in thepictures of each of the base view and enhancement view videos to createwatermarked base view video and watermarked enhancement view video; andmultiplexing the watermarked base view and enhancement view videos intoa transport stream for transmission.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein apicture, included within the pictures of the base view and enhancementview videos, having a low correlation with the other pictures in the 3Dvideo is watermarked with a high priority.
 10. The method of claim 8,further comprising compressing the acquired 3D video into the base viewvideo and the enhancement view video using an MPEG-4 Multi-view VideoCoding (MVC) standard.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein watermarkingthe identified regions includes copy-protecting both the base view andenhancement view videos.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein watermarkingthe identified regions includes correlating the picture of theenhancement view video with the picture of the base view video.
 13. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the watermarked base view and enhancementview videos include a specific picture identity (PID).
 14. The method ofclaim 8, wherein one or more pictures of the enhancement view video andone or more pictures of the base view video include at least one ofI-pictures, P-pictures, and B-pictures.
 15. A method for watermarkingreceived three-dimensional (3D) content, comprising: receivingwatermarked 3D data having a base view video, an enhancement view video,base view watermark data, and enhancement view watermark data;extracting the base view and enhancement view videos, and the base viewand enhancement view watermark data from the received 3D data; creatinga base view watermark stream and an enhancement view watermark streamusing the base view watermark data and the enhancement view watermarkdata, respectively; inserting the base view watermark stream and theenhancement view watermark stream into the extracted base view video andthe extracted enhancement view video, respectively, to createwatermarked base view pictures and watermarked enhancement viewpictures; decoding the watermarked base view pictures and thewatermarked enhancement view pictures; and combining the decodedwatermarked base view pictures and the decoded watermarked enhancementview pictures into 3D pictures.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising displaying the 3D pictures on a video display device.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising synchronizing the base viewwatermark stream and the enhancement view watermark stream with theextracted base view video and the extracted enhancement view video,respectively.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the decodedwatermarked base view pictures include pictures in a left view video ofthe 3D content, and wherein the decoded watermarked enhancement viewpictures include pictures in a right view video of the 3D content. 19.The method of claim 17, wherein decoding the watermarked base viewpictures and the watermarked enhancement view pictures includes using atleast one of an MPEG-4 algorithm, an Advanced Video Compression (AVC)algorithm, a Video Codec 1 (VC1) algorithm, and a VP6 algorithm.
 20. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the received 3D data is a compressed 3Dvideo.